
Introduction
Research Questions
- What is the nature of Head Start children’s family and home supports for children’s development into kindergarten?
- What is the nature of Head Start classroom supports for children’s development into kindergarten?
- How do supports related to learning activities compare across children’s home and classroom environments?
This research report focuses on describing aspects of Head Start children’s family and classroom environments that may support children’s kindergarten achievement. Data are from the 2009 cohort of the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES 2009).
Purpose
Examining child and family outcomes, during the program years and through follow-up at the end of kindergarten, provides information about Head Start’s efforts to help children and families meet their goals.
Key Findings and Highlights
Most Head Start families are healthy, working toward self-sufficiency, and supporting their children’s development through language and literacy, math, and supportive home activities. Cognitive/cultural home activities are less commonly provided. And one-fifth to one-third of children live in families in need of support around mental health, food security, education, and participation in their children’s education.
On average, classrooms provide children with daily language and literacy and math activities and score in the low to middle range on measures of observed classroom quality.
Children’s level of participation in learning activities is similar across the home and classroom learning environments and in some cases higher in the classroom than in the home.
Overall children’s learning experiences at home and in the classroom during the Head Start year are not associated with children’s developmental outcomes in kindergarten with the exception of more home language and literacy activities being associated with higher receptive vocabulary and phonetic skills in kindergarten. Additionally, classroom quality specific to materials is associated with math achievement in kindergarten.
Methods
The FACES 2009 sample provides nationally representative information about Head Start programs, centers, and classrooms and the children and families they serve. In all, 60 programs, 129 centers, 486 classrooms, 439 teachers, and 3,349 children participated in the study in fall 2009.
FACES 2009 drew samples of 3- and 4-year-old children who were entering Head Start for the first time in fall 2009 and were expected to attend the program for one or two years before kindergarten. Hence, in this brief, “Head Start exit” refers to data collected in either spring 2010 (for most children sampled as 4-year-olds) or spring 2011 (for most children sampled as 3-year-olds), and “the spring of kindergarten” refers to data collected in either spring 2011 (for most children sampled as 4-year-olds) or spring 2012 (for most children sampled as 3-year-olds).
In each wave of data collection, children in the study were administered a battery of direct assessments, their parents and teachers were interviewed or surveyed, and their teachers were asked to complete a set of ratings about the children in their classrooms. In this brief, we draw on data from the direct child assessments, parent interviews, interviews and surveys of Head Start and kindergarten teachers, and teachers’ ratings of children.
Appendix
Related Documents
A related brief explores children’s developmental progress and kindergarten environments in more depth:
Head Start Children’s Developmental Progress and Kindergarten Experiences
Citation
L. Malone, A. Kopack Klein, N. Aikens, J.F. Harding, J. West, and L. Tarullo. (2017). Head Start Family and Classroom Supports for Kindergarten Achievement: FACES 2009. OPRE Report 2017-70. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Glossary
- FACES:
- Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey